Speaking at an event titled "Gender Equality: The Destruction of the Family", Mr. Scala alleged that "under gender ideology we cannot complement each other; everything is worthy and valid: Marriage, prostitution, bestiality, having sex with dead people."

He also stated that children raised by same-sex couples actually lacked a true parent because "a million gays won't amount to a single man and a million lesbians won't amount to a single woman."

Apparently in past visits to Ecuador the good "psychologist" has also claimed he can cure people from homosexuality.

"It's the second year that this self-described faith-healer from the church has said such things," said Lía Burbano, president of the Ecuadorian Lesbian Association who participated in the rally.

Police did step in eventually and were able to shut down the rally arguing that organizers had not received permission to stage it. Organizers, who noted that the San Francisco Park in which he rally took place was a public area argued that they had the right to congregate in a public space.

Supposedly, Ecuador's 2008 constitution was the first one in the Latin American region to enshrine language that made it unconstitutional to discriminate against individuals based on sexual orientation. There is still a long way from those constitutional principles to the street.